Florida continues to be a hotspot with Canadians. They are the largest foreign buyers of Florida housing. More than 500,000 Canadians currently own real estate in Florida. It is hard to name a town or city south of the I-4 corridor that doesn’t have a healthy population of Canadians…. Sarasota….Bradenton….Venice….Orlando…Kissimmee….Miami….Ft. Lauderdale….Palm Beach….Cape Coral….Ft. Myers….Tampa…..St. Petersburg….Naples….Marco Island to name a few.

While most of the Canadian buyers favor vacation or retirement homes on the coastal areas, Florida continues to offer a growth story for investors across commercial and residential asset classes. Florida recently passed New York as the 3rd most populous state in US. The opening of the Panama Canal is predicted to grow the economy in Florida ports. And, most recently, the US government has taken action to ease the restrictions place on Cuba. Removing the more than 50 year embargo would have dramatic effects on both the Tampa and Miami economies, as well as their respective real estate markets.

Nick Podetz, of TD Bank and Jason Ansel of the law firm Altro Levy, join the Invest Florida team to discuss issues for Canadians to consider when buying US property.

Subjects covered are:

Canadians applying for a Mortgage – Canadian Mortgages on US property and US Mortgages on US property

Estate Planning Issues

Filing US taxes and tax planning to mitigate total tax paid

What are the liability issues?

Geographic areas and asset classes in which to consider investing

Should you hold title to US property in your children’s name?

Nick Podetz, Senior Manager, TD Cross Border Banking

Nick leads Cross Border Banking activities for TD Bank, responsible for overseeing the strategies and activities that help make banking across North America easy for customers investing in the US.

Jason Ansel, Associate at Altro Levy, a Canadian based law firm

Jason and his firm are dedicated to cross border Tax, Estate Planning and Real Estate Legal Services. He assists clients with the various issues on holding assets in the US for both business and personal use.